A group of WSR volunteers are working to restore two open wagons for use in an authentic WWII goods train. The wagons require tarpaulins to preserve them and secure their loads. 

The 2 tarpaulins will be supplied in dark olive 16 oz Cotton Duck, the authentic material for covered wagons and will have the dual purpose of sheeting down the load and also keeping the wagons aired and dried hence preserving the restored finish.   This will provide two typical open wagons to make up an authentic  military freight train to be introduced at the Spring Steam Gala 2018. The Train will be hauled by S160 USTC 2-8-0 locomotive funded by the WSR plc.       

WWII is on the curriculums of both junior and senior schools. The WSR owns a typical military brake van and several authentic wagons as well as several ‘replicas’ (newer wagons but of the same appearance). With the arrival of the S160 which is an authentic locomotive of the war period (several examples of these locomotives were shedded at Plymouth during the war and photographic evidence exists of S160s pulling freight trains through Taunton) a representative train can be recreated to demonstrate the logistics of moving military equipment.     

The volunteers are doing the restoration work and when they've finished the vehicles will need the tarpaulins to preserve the restoration and safeguard the loads they carry on the railway to demonstrate how equipment was moved around the country.